Mistakes
by pook
Summary: A 'Shadow Line' episode story.
1. Chapter 1

Mistakes  
Pairing - Kate centric with a hint of Mike  
Rating - PG?  
A 'Shadow Line' episode story.  
Author's note #1- Many thanks to Ryanthorpe, for the magic red marker. Thanks.  
Disclaimer - I don't own them but I promise to return the crew to the boat when I've finished.

Author's Note #2 - This is my first Sea Patrol fic. I hope you like it.

* * *

Dazed, Kate's eyes flickered open. It was dark. Cursing the bone numbing cold, all she wanted to do was hunker down under her doona and go back to sleep, but she couldn't, not with all the deafening noise blaring right by her ear.

Water bubbled and gurgled over rocks. Birds squawked, flapping away in panicked flight. The thumping sound of her heart beat against her chest. And finally, the hissing of radio static irritated her beyond reason.

After a few seconds of confusion, Kate remembered everything. And it all began with her stupid mistake. She hadn't checked back with Spider. Idiot! Not Spider, her!

Shuddering, Kate recalled perfectly every detail, the crack of a rifle shot, the slam of the bullet against her back, the intense white hot pain spreading all over her back, and then she'd been knocked off her feet and into the creek.

She'd been shot in the back by a Russian mercenary. The same man who'd stabbed Charge. Bastard.

It was her fault. Simple as.

Shaking her head, she couldn't believe her own level of tactical incompetence. The searing pain in her back was justified punishment as far as she was concerned. Life was harsh, especially in battle as the perpetrator rarely survived to learn from their mistake. If she got out of there alive, she'd have to apologize to Spider for putting his life in jeopardy. She hoped that he wouldn't blame himself if she didn't.

The distinctive sloshing of someone moving through the water from the same direction as the shot had come from meant only one thing.

The bastard was coming in for the kill. His first mistake. Poor tactics. He should've left the area. If he was ex-Special Forces, he could eliminate all the shore party one by one if he wanted to. Easily. He must've known her team would converge on the location of the shot. They were already close by. The bastard didn't have to come up and close to kill her. The Steyr was an accurate weapon. He could've emptied the magazine from 100 metres away and killed her many times over. All it would have taken was one head shot.

Kate tried to move but nothing happened. Panic rose within her when her legs refused to work. Had she'd been paralysed? As quickly as the dread came, it disappeared when her arms slowly obeyed her commands. Her left hand wrapped around a rock, stopping her from drifting further downstream.

With grim determination, Kate thought that if she was going to die then she'd try and take him out with her, for Charge and for the crew of the cargo ship. Slowly her hand moved to her 9 mm, slipped it out of the holster, clicked off the safety, and waited, hoping it still worked despite being submerged for God knows how long.

Sinatra's rich vocals filled her mind. 'Regrets? I had a few ...' It was too late to list all her mistakes and regrets now as she waited in the cold water. Except maybe one. Kate closed her eyes and recalled the details of his face. He'd be all right. The crew would look after him.

Water splashed up the back of Kate's head.

Setting her jaw, she gently caressed the trigger.

A hand grabbed her shoulder and roughly turned her over. A smirk of triumph filled his face.

Kate would soon wipe that smirk off his face as she acquired the target and squeezed the trigger.

Silence filled the jungle and Kate breathed again.

_fin_


	2. Chapter 2

Mistakes Part 2  
Pairing – Mike with a hint of Kate  
Rating - PG - a one swear word but nothing that hasn't been said in any primary school playground  
A 'Shadow Line' episode story. A companion piece to Mistakes. Most of the radio traffic [in italics] was from the episode.  
Author's note #1- Many thanks to Ryanthorpe, for the magic red marker and for picking up where those pesky commas go. Cheers.

Disclaimer - I don't own them but I promise to return the crew when I've finished.

* * *

_"Team X-ray, Team Sierra, did you fire those shots? Over." _

Tension immediately increased on the Bridge, despite Buffer's apparently calm voice coming over the radio.

Mike shared the concern of Charge and RO as all three looked toward the island. There was nothing any of them could do to help; they had to wait for the shore party to answer, hoping that they were all right.

_"Team Bravo, this is Team Sierra. Negative, Buff. That wasn't us. Over." _

Immediately Mike realised something was wrong. Very wrong. Kate would've answered before Swain.

_"Yeah, roger that." _

Mike's knuckles whitened as he tightened his already vice-like grip on the radio handset.

_"Team X-ray, do you read me? Over." _

'C'mon, Kate, answer, please,' begged Mike silently. She'd get her partner to answer if she'd thought her radio was not working. Why hadn't they answered?

_"XO, do you read me? Over." _

Seconds passed. Static filled the Bridge.

_"This is Team X-ray. I've lost contact with the X. The fugitive has my weapon. I repeat, the fugitive is armed with my weapon. But I last saw the X heading north upstream. ... Over."_

All Mike's fears were confirmed and only escalated as Spider's obviously harried voice came over the radio.

_"Yeah, roger that. All teams head north upstream and proceed with caution. Spider, stay where you are." _

Logical scenarios of faulty radio equipment or dead spots were well and truly thrown out the window. Any number of horrific situations played almost simultaneously in his mind. It took all of Mike's willpower not to find out more. Clogging up the frequency wouldn't have helped the shore party. Buffer and the others didn't need him adding to an already stressful situation. He trusted them, but it had to be one of the hardest things he's ever done. His crew were in jeopardy, trying to stalk an armed mercenary, who'd already killed ruthlessly and efficiently many times. It was now possible that his crew were the hunted and not the other way round. And he was powerless to help them.

_"This is Team Sierra, copy that. On our way."_

There was nothing he could do but wait and ponder what mistakes he'd made that led to this debacle.

The strategic errors of the NAVCOM, the government and the UN of not having the collective willpower to take the hard decisions to sort out the insurgency properly in the first place had been out of his control. 'Ours is not to not reason why ... blah blah ... ,' Mike scoffed, wondering why he blindly followed orders, especially stupid ones.

The tactical cock ups were purely his and his alone. After all he was the captain. It was only luck that prevented him losing his ship or worse, one of his crew losing their life. Charge had been stabbed. Two millimetres to the left and he'd have died. Mike had allowed three mercenaries to take over the ship. It had only been a fortunate design aspect that permitted the swapping of the CS gas for the CO2 gas in the fire control system that led to the overpowering of the three hijackers. And then, he could've ordered Buffer to shoot the same guy that had stabbed Charge when that mercenary had held the MV _Beltane_ captain hostage on the black Puccini. And now he was running around on the island, armed. It was certainly possible that the captain may have survived if Mike had had the guts to have made that call, instead of following fucking procedure. Gutless wonder! Mike swore under his breath. It was gobsmacking that he still had a command. Sniggering, he wondered if Marshall would be bust him right back to Seaman, when he returned to port.

So many mistakes.

_"Team Echo, this is Team Bravo. Get the stretcher and med kit to our location at the rush. Over."_

Kate had been shot. He just knew it. The mercenary had used Spider's Steyr to shoot Kate. His worst nightmare seemed to becoming true as he pictured Kate with a large jagged exit wound to her head, her face ashen, the spark of her eyes dimmed forever, the splattering of grey matter, blood and bone shards over her blonde hair, like the crew of the MV _Beltane_. Mike had to take a steadying deep breath to regain some composure, but it didn't prevent the bile still burning his throat. The full weight of his greatest mistake came crashing down on him and he staggered back, weak kneed, holding onto the EOD operator's chair for dear life.

_"Charlie 8-2, this is Bravo 8-2. Over."_

Releasing his death grip on the handset, Mike's knuckles creaked as he pressed the call button on the radio, somehow finding the courage to answer, "Bravo 8-2, this is Charlie 8-2. Over." Time slowed. The only thing Mike could hear was his thumping heat beat.

_"Boss, the X and Spider are all right. The hostile is down, I repeat, the hostile is down."_

Relieved beyond words, Mike finally breathed again.

_Fin_


End file.
